BILL DALEY IS SHOCKED, SHOCKED (!) THAT PAT QUINN WOULD MAKE A PURELY POLITICAL APPOINTMENT TO THE CTA BOARD

8/9/13

More on the governor’s race, which has been neglected, until today (See today’s other post, THE MADIGANS, THE SPEAKER’S OFFICE, AND THE GOVERNOR’S RACE:  “YOU SEE,THAT’S WHERE MY ARGUMENT FALLS APART…”), since our trip (See 8/2/13’s seminal CLARK GRISWOLD, MR. PEABODY, AND ME), partially because I have been writing about more important matters (See 8/7/13’s THE NATION’S GREATEST PARTY SCHOOLS: THE I’S HAVE IT!)…

Governor Pat Quinn (no relation) has appointed Frank Zuccarelli to a spot on the board of the Chicago Transit Authority (“CTA”).  Mr. Zuccarelli does not live in Chicago; he lives in the south suburbs.  Mr. Zuccarelli is also holds the “job” of Thornton Township Supervisor, one of the many vestigial sinecures we in these parts provide our public servants.  More importantly, for purposes extending beyond the subject of this post, Mr. Zuccarelli is the Democratic Committeeman of Thornton Township, which produces more Democratic primary votes than any other township in the Cook County suburbs.

Bill Daley, Mr. Quinn’s sole, up to this point (See my 7/16/13 piece, PAT QUINN VS. BILL DALEY:  “THIS GUY DOESN’T THINK THIS IS A SHOW; HE THINKS IT’S A FIGHT!” for the reasons I think the words “up to this point” are vital.), opponent in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, is upset with Governor Quinn’s appointment of Mr. Zuccarelli to the CTA Board. 

Mr. Daley points out that Mr. Zuccarelli, while probably qualified, doesn’t live in Chicago and, after all, this is the CHICAGO Transit Authority Board to which Mr. Zuccarelli has been appointed.  This is true, though, while not being certain, I suppose that there have been, from time to time, CTA Board members from outside the confines of the city itself.

Mr. Daley also points out that holding a part time job on the CTA Board would result in Mr. Zuccarelli’s double dipping, since he already holds the job of Thornton Township Supervisor.   This is the sort of double dipping that so recently helped get former Metra Chairman Brad O’Halloran in so much trouble.  (See my 8/4/13 piece, WHO WOULD WANT TO BE ONTHE METRA BOARD?  WELL… for only my latest commentary on that sordid yet par for the course in these parts affair.)  Mr. Daley’s argument also rings true in this instance.

Mr. Daley also argues that Mr. Zuccarelli was appointed by Mr. Quinn for blatantly political reasons; i.e., to secure Mr. Zuccarelli’s very formidable support in the upcoming Democratic primary race for governor pitting, for now, Mr. Daley against Mr. Quinn.  Mr. Daley is also absolutely correct in this contention.

But so what?

Mr. Daley’s criticizing Mr. Quinn for engaging in the type of raw, nearly bare-knuckled politics that results in the likes of Mr. Zuccarelli winding up on the CTA Board is surely a case of (excuse the hackneyed metaphor) the pot calling the kettle black.   Appointing political allies to posts in which they could wield power and double dip is the type of thing the Daleys have been doing since Richard J. Daley started climbing the ladder in the ‘30s.  It is also, by the way, the type of politics that Mr. Quinn, while clearly not identified with, has not eschewed in his long career in, er, “public service.”   He may have a much vaunted reputation as a crusading reformer, but he didn’t survive, and prosper, this long in Chicago and Illinois politics by spending inordinate amounts of time at choir practice.

So, yes, Mr. Daley is right; Mr. Quinn’s appointment of Mr. Zuccarelli to the CTA Board was pretty much raw, naked, largely unabashed politics.   But, to use another hackneyed metaphor, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander…and Mr. Daley had better get used to it.  See, again, my 7/16/13 piece.

This is going to be one heck of a race.

See my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge, A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics, for further illumination on how things work in Chicago and Illinois politics. 

PAT QUINN SUSPENDS LEGISLATORS’ SALARIES: FOUR MORE YEARS?

7/10/13 

Governor Pat Quinn (no relation, but my happiness at not sharing a bloodline with the man seems to decrease on a daily basis) announced today that he will use his line-item veto power on the budget to suspend lawmakers’ salaries until something is done on the pension crisis that is fast driving the Land of Lincoln to bankruptcy.  (A re-read of my 6/15/13 post, WAS PAT QUINN “PUT ON THIS EARTH” TO SOLVE ILLINOIS’PENSION PROBLEMS? May be helpful in assessing Mr. Quinn’s motivations here.)

This is an absolutely brilliant move on Cousin (again, not really) Pat’s part.  

Yes, this is little more than a bit of Mr. Quinn’s customary demagoguery.  The suspension is highly unlikely to survive; either the courts will overrule Mr. Quinn, citing the Illinois Constitution’s prohibition on changing lawmakers’ salaries mid-term, or the legislature will override Mr. Quinn’s line-item veto.   And even if the suspension does survive, the impact on the budget will, of course, be virtually undetectable, and even it may not get our esteemed public servants off the dime.

However…

The symbolism is brilliant here, and symbolism is, usually sadly, very important in politics. 

As I said over a month ago, in my 6/3/13 post, THE PENSION DEBACLE IN ILLINOIS:  MR. MADGIAN AS MACHIAVELLI, MR. EMANUEL LOSESA ROUND, OR MR. QUINN GOES TO SPRINGFIELD?,

Mr. Quinn is a pretty decent politician and a smart guy.   He can, and probably will, conduct a sort of Mr. Quinn Goes to Springfield type of campaign in 2014, in which Mr. Quinn, a lifelong politician who has played “get along, go along” for the last 40 years, will be cast as a sort of St. George who battles the dragons of Mike Madigan and his minions.   The voters of Illinois might go for it; they have certainly gone for much more preposterous notions; see, as only the most salient example, the governorship of the man whom Mr. Quinn served as Lieutenant Governor, Rod Blagojevich.

In my 6/5/13 post,  PAT QUINN, PENSIONS, ANDTHE UPCOMING ILLINOIS GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY: WHAT WOULD JIMMY STEWART DO?, I followed up with

Mr. Quinn’s efforts to blame the legislature for the failure to enact pension reform and to set up the fast approaching 2014 primary as a Jimmy Stewartesque battle between the forces of sweetness and light vs. the dark side may be working.  

Governor Quinn may not be very popular, but the legislature is far less popular.  Mr. Quinn is no fool and realizes that the way to win this race is to run against the legislature and its Democratic leadership.   This latest move ramps up that campaign theme.

As I also said on 6/5,

Whether Mr. Quinn attacks subtlety or engages in a full frontal assault, he will be going after the legislature and “politics as usual” in his upcoming campaign for re-election.  It’s his only chance, and it’s a better chance than most people think.  (Emphasis mine.)

As I said then and even way before then (and, of course, even before Michael Sneed of the Sun-Times reported today (7/10/13, page 2) on the Governor’s first quarter fundraising advantage over Bill Daley and Lisa Madigan), don’t be so quick to count Mr. Quinn out of this race.   And don’t misunderstand me; I am not predicting a Quinn victory in either the primary or the general election.  But I am cautioning against dismissing the re-election chances of a politically clever incumbent, especially if this turns out to be a three way primary race.

See my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge, A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics, for further illumination on how things work in Chicago and Illinois politics.